The 94th Academy Awards ceremony was held Sunday night from The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes and airing live on ABC.
The night’s top honor was given to CODA, which was named the Best Picture of 2021 at the Oscars. The dramatic comedy about the music-loving daughter of deaf parents also earned the honor for Best Adapted Screenplay, while cast member Troy Kotsur picked up the Best Supporting Actor trophy. The epic sci-fi film Dune won for Best Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound, Film Editing, Score and Production Design prizes.
Best Director honors went to Jane Campion earned the title of Best Director for the western The Power of the Dog, while Will Smith won Best Actor for the tennis-themed family drama King Richard and Jessica Chastain went home with the Best Actress prize for the biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which also won for Best Hair & Makeup. Ariana DeBose scored the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the movie musical West Side Story, and Encanto earned the accolade for Best Animated Film. Kenneth Branagh won the Best Original Screenplay statuette for his coming-of-age tale, Belfast. And the song “No Time to Die” from the James Bond film No Time to Die won Best Song.
The highlights of the evening was a 30th anniversary reunion of White Men Can’t Jump stars Rosie Perez, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, and a performance of the nominated song “Be Alive” by Beyonce.
Most notably, however, was Will Smith making headlines when he slapped presenter Chris Rock in the face after the comedian made fun of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s new close-cropped hairdo, which is due to her battle with alopecia. When accepting his Oscar for Best Actor, Smith later apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and his fellow nominees for his behavior — but he did not mention Rock by name in his apology.
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